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About Boat People
Boat People is my second published book and first collection of poetry, containing forty poems, roughly half of them new and the others previously published. It's published by HeadworX and you can read more about it, and a couple of sample poems, on HeadworX' Boat People page. As it says there:
"Boat People" is in four sections. The first is inspired by the poet's childhood in Southland and adolescence in Otago. The second focuses on the Wellington region, and includes poems about the poet's experiences of fatherhood. Section III takes in Russia - Tim Jones speaks Russian and has a longstanding interest in the country - while Section IV journeys to the alternate world of time and space also depicted in "Extreme Weather Events".I couldn't have put it better myself!
The book is available from most NZ independent booksellers, and if it's not available from your local chain bookstore, you should certainly be able to order it using the ordering information below. See How to Buy a Copy for more on availability.
TITLE Boat People
AUTHOR Tim Jones
PUBLISHER HeadworX Publishers
DATE August 2002
FORMAT Paperback
EXTENT 64 pages
ISBN 0-473-08745-6
RRP NZ$19.95
DISTRIBUTOR: Addenda Limited, PO Box 78-224, Grey Lynn, Auckland
Poems Included
Poems published for the first time in Boat People are marked with an asterisk. For prior publication details of the other poems, see my poems page.
Section I
Haast Pass Poem*; Oreti Beach; Stones; Gore Housewives' Choice*; Fallen; Something for the Weekend*; If Looks Could Kill; North*; Aramoana Border Post*; Smaills Beach*; N.E.V.*; Seventeen Years*
Section II
Please Advise Soonest; Walking Down and Out; Cities for Lovers*; The Weather; They Babies Will Cry; Action Man Is Sleeping; At the Gate*; Oh Baby ... [Bryan Adams]; Confidence Men*; Spines of Pioneers*
Section III
Russian River*; 1917; For Anna Akhmatova; 342; Let Loose the Red Rooster; The Wonderful and Frightening World; The stars, Natasha; Frida Kahlo*
Section IV
Stand-by -- 15 Seconds; Writers and Readers; Dante and Isaac Asimov; Angela Carter; One of the Thieves; Pastoral; Revenant; Tailback; Stone Baby*; That's Far Enough*
Reviews
In print
Here's what some print reviewers have had to say:
1. Review by Anne Kennedy, "New Zealand Listener", 16-22 November 2002:
"Tim Jones makes a case for reinstating the term 'boat people' to its rightful place as a description of brave people determined to find a better life. The history of our country is founded on boat people .... Jones places himself as a parent, often in a tender way. In 'Action Man Is Sleeping', Jones uses the doll as a metaphor for his sleeping son."
2. Review by Hamesh Wyatt, "Otago Daily Times", 26 October 2002:
"Jones takes to the road quickly .... The reader goes on a darkly sweet journey through Southland into Dunedin. Jones' son grows up in this work and he ponders Angela Carter and Anna Akhmatova. 'Boat People' is full of tough, emotional content but there is also a purr and twinkle in Jones' poems."
3. Review by Owen Bullock in New Zealand Poetry Society Newsletter, November 2002:
"Boat People begins with a sense of distance and separation. The first three poems show a promisingly varied and satisfying aesthetic .... The poet's perceptiveness of people results in the best writing .... The book's third section is inspired by thoughts and images of Russia. I've never been to that place, but can hear the poet summoning a very different voice .... The unease of awkward questions is almost tangible in 'Writers and Readers'. A poem like this one by Tim Jones takes you back to your own experience as well as to another's."
Online
Here's Trevor Reeves' review in Issue 25 of Southern Ocean Review (final review on this page, but read the others first!).
How to Buy a Copy
Your best option (in New Zealand and Australia) is to go to a bookshop, check whether it stocks the book, and ask the bookshop to order it if not. If you take the ordering information above with you to your bookshop, it may help.
In New Zealand, HeadworX books are mainly distributed by independent booksellers, such as Unity Books (Wellington and Auckland), University Book Shop (Dunedin), and Scorpio (Christchurch).
Online, you can order the book from Books - New Zealand. Enter "Boat People" in the "Quick Search" box, and you'll be taken to its page.
Boat People is also available online to retail customers from Kiwinet NZ.
You can also order the book directly from me.
Email me at timjones@actrix.co.nz